Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue." -Andrew Davis
I think by now, we’ve all heard content is king…or queen.
Content is gold. It’s my personal favorite way to market and has been at the core of my relationship-based marketing strategy from day one.
But, what happens when we’re cranking out the content to the tune of crickets?
If you’re sick of staying up until 3 am polishing off blog posts without seeing anything in return, this one's is for you.
Let’s make sure your content is working for you, instead of having you work for your content!
7 Reasons Your Content Isn't Converting
1. You're Ghosting Your People
Being hot and heavy for a month and then ghosting for three isn’t cool in the dating world and it’s not so great for building relationships through content either.
Just like relationships outside of business, trust is built by showing up when we say we will and delivering on what we say we will over and over again. It takes time to build trust, and it’s easy to break it.
Trust is key for personal relationships and it's at the core of business success.
One sure way to break the trust when it comes to content is to show up sporadically or only when we're feeling 'inspired'.
Think about this from your audience’s lens. How does showing up inconsistently affect the relationship? How does it affect the trust you're building?
One way to step up your relationships, trust, and in turn, the conversions you see from your content is to own your consistency. Show up when you say you will. Deliver what you promise.
And, hey, if you can’t because life...act like you would outside of business and let people know what’s up. It can be that simple.
2. All People Hear is 'Wah Wah'
Let me ask you this: how riveting did you find your classes in high school?
If you’re anything like me, you might have zoned out, dozed through, and even skipped a few classes back in your high school days. You probably also had a class you loved and a teacher you’d show up for no matter what.
While I’m not supporting cutting class, our high school attention span can teach us something about our content and conversions.
What makes us want to show up for one class and skip another? Aside from peer pressure, it tends to be the class CONTENT and the way that content is shared.
Teachers who get past facts and figures and find a way to make their lessons compelling and relatable get butts in seats even on Senior Skip Day. Teachers who read from the text book or regurgitate information put us to sleep.
It’s no different for you and me, except we’re usually dealing with adults who don’t have to worry about detention. They can skip out without any consequences, which means, it’s up to us to make sure we’re creating content that’s worth paying attention to.
Regurgitating facts and figures alone? I don’t know any other way to say this, but it’s boring, it’s not how we learn best, and it does nothing to connect us to one another.
As Marie Forleo says, ‘Facts tell, stories sell.’
If you want to sell more (aka convert more), lean into story-telling and ideas that take your audience past facts they can Google. Then, you can always use facts to support your stories and back up your content.
3. Vanilla's Better With Sprinkles
Are you playing it safe when it comes to sharing your ideas with the world? While vanilla is great in a cone (it's my favorite ice-cream flavor!), it’s not doing us any favors when it comes to our content.
Just like facts alone don’t light a fire of emotion big enough to cause us to take action, content that plays it super safe is going to be a non-starter in the conversions department.
It’s pretty noisy out there and it’s hard to say anything that can be heard above the noise when we’re watering down our message and saying exactly what everyone else is in the same, safe way.
Don’t hear this the wrong way. This doesn’t mean you have to try to be different, share your deepest darkest secrets, or come up with bizarre ‘flavors’ in order to stand out.
You don’t need to go to extremes, but you do need to have an opinion and bring a little something, something to spice up your content flavor. Think of it as adding sprinkles to a classic versus needing to make up an entirely new flavor.
4. Does Your Message Need a Play Date?
Business messaging is a funny thing. We’ll hire someone to help us hone our message. We’ll pay for classes that give us tips and tools to elevate our message. And, then, we forget to infuse our content with our message.
Your message is meant for more than the tagline on your website or the long-winded sentence you use to describe what you do when you meet people.
Your message is meant to be the core of what you do. The nucleus of your business. The heart of your content.
While you don’t need to spell out your message in every piece of content, each piece of content will connect and convert much better when it has a thread that ties back to your business message.
5. Online, Offline, Samesies
I recently had the pleasure of meeting someone I met on Instagram in real life.
We became friends through content and met for a drink here in the city. (Meeting a new friend offline as a result of content online is such beautiful example of the power of content.)
When I met my new friend IRL, she was exactly how I expected her to be. I mean, she was even better, but there was congruence with how she portrayed herself through her content online and who she was offline.
This is the goal with our content. Congruence converts!
7. Stop Hiding In Plain Sight And Get Paid
People aren’t buying what you do. They aren’t buying facts. And, in a world where there’s more than one option for pretty much everything, most people aren’t simply buying a solution to a problem anymore.
They’re buying the experience and feeling that comes along with the result they're paying for. They’re buying YOU and the way you do business.
You are the USP (unique selling proposition). You are your ‘purple cow.’ You are your ‘blue ocean’.
That means bringing more of yourself to your content so it can connect with your people and convert...you gotta stop hiding in plain sight so you can get paid!
I want to invite you and encourage you to take up space like a boss and bring your voice, your opinions, your spin, your unique lens and way of approaching your work into your content.
And, come on, isn’t that how we connect and create friendships outside of business? We bring ourselves and share who we are with another person. Do THIS in your content, connect more, and the conversions will feel like magic.
I hope these seven reasons will take some of the confusion out of content and conversions, so you can bring the joy back into the creation process and make more money from your beautiful, passion-driven work.
Wishing you your version of success!
P.S. Ready to step up your content and marketing so you can get out there, take up space like a boss, and get paid? This happens to be something I'm damn good at helping my clients with so they can make more money doing what they love.
